(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a docking system for handheld electronic communication devices such as cellular telephones or the like, for use with structures or vehicles, and this application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/136,748, filed on Aug. 9, 2011 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,254,831 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/931,050, filed Jan. 20, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,180,279, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/218,324, filed Jul. 14, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,881,664, issued Feb. 1, 2011 (and is a sister patent of U.S. Pat. No. 7,904,124 issued Mar. 8, 2011), and which '664 patent is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/020,450, filed Dec. 22, 2004, issued on Jul. 15, 2008 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,400,858, and patent application Ser. No. 11/728,487, filed on Mar. 26, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,421,253 which is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/619,770, filed on Jul. 15, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,197,285, which are each a continuation applications of Ser. No. 09/634,140, filed Aug. 8, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,885,845, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/604,105, filed Feb. 20, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,471, each of which patents, applications, their respective U.S. Patent Office and U.S. Federal District Court records, all their file and re-examination histories, are all incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
(2) Prior Art
Extraneous radio frequency emission has become a serious concern of hand-held electronic communication devices such as portable facsimile machines, ground position indicators, and cellular telephone manufacturers and users alike. RF radiation is considered a potential carcinogen.
The proliferation of these hand-held devices is evident everywhere. A single hand-held device however, should able to travel with its owner and be easily transferably usable in automobiles, planes, cabs or buildings (including hospitals) as well as at offices and at desks with no restrictions on their use. And without causing concern with regard to the radiation therefrom. The hand-held devices should be portable for a user to carry in his pocket, yet be able to use that same cellular unit in such vehicle or building while minimizing such radiational effect therein.
It is an object of the present invention to permit a user of a portable hand-held electronic communication device such as a cellular telephone or the like, to conveniently use that same hand-held device/cellular phone in an automobile, plane or building, office/desk, or anywhere signal transmission is needed, and to permit such signal to reach its intended destination such as a communications network or satellite, without interfering with other electrical equipment and in spite of interfering walls of buildings or structure and/or other electrical equipment.
It is a further object of the present invention to minimize any radiation from such a portable device, such as a cellular telephone or the like, while such use occurs in an automobile, a building or an elevator, an airplane, a cab, or other public facility in which the user wishes to minimize his own exposure to stray radiation, and also to permit re-transmission of his signal, to avoid the necessity of connecting and disconnecting cables, and to permit a wide variety of cellular telephones such as would be utilized in a rental car where various manufactures phones would be used, and to permit control of such re-transmission of signals where desired, so as to allow user/customer billing and monitoring thereof.